Clinton Township Wills & Trusts Lawyers

Irrevocable Trusts

Irrevocable trusts serve a different purpose than revocable trusts and are used to supplement your broader estate plan. They are created to hold specific assets for named beneficiaries and, unlike revocable trusts, require you to appoint a trustee other than yourself. Once assets are transferred in, you relinquish control, and that relinquishment is the mechanism that achieves the tax and creditor-protection benefits.

A common application is holding life insurance policies outside your taxable estate, keeping the proceeds from being counted for federal estate tax purposes. Irrevocable trusts can also protect assets in larger estates that exceed the estate tax credit limitation, making them a meaningful tool for clients whose estates may face federal estate tax exposure.

Gifts as an Estate Planning Strategy

Making gifts during your lifetime is another way to reduce your taxable estate. The federal annual gift tax exclusion allows each person to give up to $19,000 per recipient per year as of 2025 and 2026, with the amount adjusted periodically for inflation by the IRS. You may give to as many recipients as you choose without federal gift tax consequences and without reducing your lifetime exemption. Married couples can combine exclusions to give up to $38,000 per recipient annually.

Gifts above the annual exclusion reduce your lifetime exemption rather than triggering immediate gift tax. There’s also a distinct strategic benefit to gifting appreciating assets: future appreciation accrues in your heir’s estate rather than your own, which can meaningfully reduce your taxable estate over time. Michigan doesn’t impose a separate state estate or gift tax, so federal rules govern Michigan residents entirely.

General Durable Power of Attorney

A General Durable Power of Attorney authorizes a person you name to handle your personal and financial affairs if you become unable to do so, most commonly due to disability or incapacity. Incorporating this document into your estate plan means your designated agent can act on your behalf without seeking authorization from the probate court. Without it, a family member who needs to manage your finances may have to petition the court to establish a formal conservatorship, a process that takes time and costs money at a moment when neither is easy to spare.

Medical Durable Power of Attorney & Patient Advocate Designation

Under Michigan law, a Medical Durable Power of Attorney allows you to designate another person to make healthcare decisions on your behalf when you’re unable to participate in those decisions yourself. This is a distinct document from your financial power of attorney and addresses a different category of decisions entirely.

The Patient Advocate Designation goes further, allowing you to state your intentions regarding medical treatment in the event of incapacity, including whether you want artificial life support used or discontinued in circumstances such as terminal illness or permanent unconsciousness. It also identifies the specific person you want to carry out those decisions. Without these documents in place, family members may disagree about the right course of action, or may be forced to seek court intervention at an already difficult time.

Medicaid & Healthcare Planning

Medicaid, also known as the Medical Assistance Program, is a federal and state-funded program covering healthcare services for qualified individuals with limited assets and income. Medicaid law restricts many techniques that were previously available for maintaining eligibility, which makes careful and timely planning more important. A well-structured plan can help you maintain financial eligibility for long-term nursing care benefits without exhausting all of your assets first. Because eligibility rules consider both asset levels and income, and because the timing of asset transfers affects eligibility, working with attorneys who understand the current rules matters considerably.

Probate Proceedings in Macomb County

Probate is the court process by which a personal representative is appointed to distribute a decedent’s assets, either according to a valid will or, when no will exists, according to Michigan’s intestacy statutes. For Clinton Township residents, probate proceedings are handled through the Macomb County Probate Court. A properly structured estate plan that uses trusts can avoid or significantly reduce the need for those proceedings entirely.

The personal representative has the following duties:

• Choosing the proper probate proceeding, whether formal or informal, supervised or unsupervised, and filing the paperwork to open the estate
• Identifying assets of the probate estate
• Identifying heirs and beneficiaries under the will or applicable law
• Identifying all other interested parties
• Settling valid debts of the deceased and denying invalid creditor claims
• Distributing remaining assets to the proper heirs and beneficiaries
• Supplying the court and interested parties with required notices, an inventory of assets, an accounting of the estate’s income and expenses, and a final distribution report

The scope of the personal representative’s duties and the degree of court involvement vary depending on the proceeding chosen. The appropriate type of proceeding depends on several factors, including the value of the estate, whether the decedent left a valid will, and the level of agreement or conflict among heirs and beneficiaries.